Fastener delivery, holding and driving device



Sept. 20, 1960 J. B. VILMERDING FASTENEZR DELIVERY. HOLDING AND DRIVINGDEVICE Filed May 23, 1958 2 SheetsSheet 1 9 6 24 5 vvm2 5 H 2 6 4 6 l3 2l Mr\ 0 8 2 O 46 w m 5| 2 2 INVENTOR 1 JOHN B. V/LMERDl/VG FIG. 2

HIS TTORNE Sept. 20, 1960 J. B. VILMERDING 2,953,049

FASTENER DELIVERY. HOLDING AND DRIVING DEVICE Filed May 23, 1958 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent FASTENERDELIVERY, HOLDING AND DRIVING DEVICE John B. Vilmerding, Owego, N.Y.,assignor to Ingersoll- Rand Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation ofNew Jersey Filed May 23, 1958, Ser. No. 737,270

9 Claims. (CI. 81-54) This invention relates to a fastening device fortightening fasteners, such as nuts, bolts and the like, to a work pieceand more particularly to a fastening device that includes a rotatingfeed through socket.

One object of this invention is to insure that a fastener will enter thefeed through socket in proper alignment with the socket conformationpresented to the fastener.

Further objects will become obvious from the following description anddrawings in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal view, partily in section,showing one form of the invention,

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of Figure 1 taken along the line 22looking in the direction of the arrows,

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal view, partly in section, showing a second formof the invention,

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional View of Fig. 3 taken along the line 44looking in the direction of the arrows,

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal view, partly in section, showing a third formof the invention, and

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of Fig. 5 taken along the line 66looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawings and first to Figure 1, a stationary chute 10conveys a fastener, in this instance a nut 14, from a source (not shown)through a delivery chute 11, and a passageway 12 in the chute 10 to arotating feed through socket 16. The nut 14 is then urged from the chutepassageway 12 through a bore 18 in the socket 16 into contact with awork piece by any suitable means, such as a plunger 20 which extendsinto the chute passageway 12 and is actuated by any suitable means. Thebore 18 extends through the socket 16 and has at least a portion thereof with a conformation adapted to positively engage the nut 14 to haveit rotate with the socket 16. Therefore, when the rotating nut 14 isbrought into contact with the work piece, it is tightened to said piece.In this instance in order to have the nut 14 and the socket 16 rotatetogether the bore conformation of the socket 16 is of the same generalcross-section as the nut 14 but of slightly greater diameter.

To insure that the nut 14 will be properly fed into said bore portionadapted to positively engage the nut 14 a holding means 24 holds the nut14 until the bore entrance portion 26 will allow the nut 14 to passthrough the bore 18 without binding at such entrance of said bore. Inthe particular form of the invention shown what would be a likelyoccurrence without the means 24 is that a corner of the nut 14 being fedinto the socket 16 would come in contact with a fiat of the boreconformation, thereby preventing the passage of said nut 14 through thebore 18. To prevent this from happening the means 24 holds the nut 14 sothat the socket 16 rotates relative to the nut 14 until the nut flatsline up with the corresponding bore flats at which time the plunger 20constantly urging the nut 14 into the socket 16 will move it thereinto.

Figs. 1 and 2 show the holding means 24 as a simple ball arrangementcomprising balls 28 which releasably engage the nut 14. This means 24also include springs 30 which constantly urge the balls 28 toward thechute passageway 12 and set screws 32 to adjust the compression on thesprings 30. These holding elements 28, 30 and 32 are housed intransverse bores 34 extending through the chute walls at the chute end36 adjacent the socket entrance 26. The bore ends opening to the chutepassageway 12 are tapered to prevent the balls 28 from dropping intosaid passageway 12. The balls 28 are spring presented into the path ofthe nut 14 to releasably hold the nut 14 so that the socket 16 rotatesrelative to said nut 14 as it is being fed through the chute end 36 bythe plunger 20. When the socket 16 presents a bore conformation thatwill allow said nut 14 to pass therethrough the plunger 20 moves the nut14 into the socket entrance 26.

Figs. 3 and 4 show another form of the invention including the chute10', the rotatable socket 16', the plunger 20 and the holding means 24'which are functionally the same as the corresponding elements 10, 16, 20and 24 in Fig. l and Fig. 2.

Structurally, unlike the corresponding element in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, thechute 10 includes a chute stem 38 which conveys the nuts 14 to a chutehead 40. This head 40 has a central bore which houses the plunger 20'and the holding means 24', and has one end 36' in communication With theentrance 26 of the rotatable socket 16'.

In this form of the invention to assure the passage of the nut 14'through the bore 18' the holding means 24' includes a pair of arms 42pivotally attached at their rear ends to the head 40, and a pair of leafsprings 48 attached to the rear of the head 40 constantly urging thearms 42 inwardly by pressing against their outer surfaces 46. The innersurfaces 50 of the arms 42 define cam surfaces 54 located at the rearend portion of the arms 42 which are angularly displaced with respect toeach other to form a tapered opening 49 wider at the rear than at thefront. The arm inner surfaces 50 further define a recess 52 forcontaining a nut 14' conveyed to the head 40 and into which the smallerend of the tapered passage 49 opens and a pair of jaws 53 havingsurfaces angularly displaced with respect to each other forming atapered opening 51 wider at the rear end portion than at the frontportion. These jaws 53 define the front end portion of the recess 52 andare located adjacent the socket entrance 26'. After a nut 14 is conveyedto the recess 52 the plunger 20' is actuated by any suitable means andmoves through the tapered opening 49 acting as a cam by impartingoutward motion to the arms 42 as it comes in contact with the camsurfaces 54 on the arms 42. This outward movement sufliciently increasesthe width \of the recess 52 and the jaw tapered opening 51 so that thenut 14' contained in the recess 52 will move into the jaws 53. The nut14' is then held by the jaws 53 until the cross-sectional conformationof the nut 14' is aligned with a bore conformation that will allow thenut 14' to pass through the bore 18. When the nut 14' and boreconformation are so aligned the plunger 20 will move the nut 14 throughthe socket 16' into contact with the work piece, whereby because of itsrotation the nut 14' is fastened to the work piece.

In a third form of the invention shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the holdingmeans 24 is especially adapted for thin fasteners like nut 14". Thismeans 24" includes three arc shaped arms 56 placed about the passage 12of the chute 10" which are pivotally attached at one end 64 'to thechute end 36" adjacent the socket entrance 26". The opposite end 66 ofeach arm 56 defines projection 68 which is spring pressed into the pathof the nut 14" by a spring type 0 ring 58 encircling the arm 56.

The rearward surfaces 70 of the projections 68 are inclined rearwardlyfrom the inner ends 72 of said projections 68 with respect to thelongitudinal axis of the socket bore 18" to define cam surfaces. Theprojection inner end surfaces 72 are tapered to form edges 74 whichoaresubstantially parallel to the longitudinal axis ofsaid bore 18". Whenthenut 14" is being moved from the chute end '36" into the socketentrance 26' by the plunger 20 said nut 14" first comes in contact withthe cam surfaces 70 moving therarms 56 in an outward direction untilrthetapered surfaces 72 present an opening suflicient in size to releasablyhold the nut 14". The leading edges 74 hold the nut 14" so that there isrelative rotation between the nut 14" and the socket 16" until thesocket conformation presented to the nut 14" is such that the pasi sageof the nut 14" through the socket 16" is assured. Briefly reviewing theoverall operation of the unit by using the form of the invention asshown in Figs. 1 and 2,

the nut 14 is conveyed to the bore 18 of the rotating feed 7 throughsocket 16 by the stationary chute 10. The bore 18 of the socket 16extends therethrough being adapted for the passage of the nut 14 andhaving a conformation .of the same general cross section as the nut 14but of slightly greater diameter so that the nut 14 rotates with thesocket 16. T o prevent the nut 14 from hanging up at the socket entrance26 the holding means 24 engages the nut 14 holding it until the nutflats line up with the corresponding bore flats at which time theplunger will move it into the bore 18. The plunger 20 then moves the nut14 through socket 16 into contact with the work piece and since the nut14 is rotating it will be tightened on said work piece.

I claim: a V

l. A fastening device comprising a chute arranged to .convey fasteners,a member rotatable relative to the chute,- said member having a borehaving an entrance releasably engage said fastener as it is beingdischarged from the chute, and a second means arranged to urge saidfastener in the direction of said member and into the bore.

2. A fastening device comprising a chute adapted to .convey fasteners, amember rotatable relative to the (chute, said member having a borehaving an entrance adjacent to the chute and adapted to receive afastener discharged from the chute and having at least a portion thereofadapted to positively engage such fastener for rotation said portionextending substantially to the entrance of the bore, means adapted toreleasably engage the fastener, said means being positioned within saidchute and adjacent said bore portion, and a second means arranged tourge said fastener in the direction of said member whereby such fasteneris serially urged into and ;out of such engagement with the first meansand into .said bore portion.

3. A fastening device comprising a chute arranged to convey fasteners, amember rotatable relative to the chute, said member having a boreextending therethrough adapted to receive and rotate a fastenerdischarged from the chute, the bore having a minimum dimension that is'less than a dimension of the fastener, means adapted to releasablyengage the fastener, said means being positioned relative to said boreto engage the fastener immediately before the fastener enters said bore,and a second means arranged to urge the fastener out of such engagementand into said here.

4. A holding device for fasteners conveyed through a frame having apassageway for such purposes, including a plurality of arms pivotallyattached at the rear end f thereof, spring means urging said arms towardsaid passageway, the inner surfaces of said arms having a portionthereof angularly displaced with respect to each other to form a taperedopening defining cam surfaces, said inner surfaces further defining arecess forwardly of said cam surfaces. constructed to contain a fastenerconveyed thereto by said passageway in the frame, jaws on the armsarranged forwardly of the recess adapted to grip said fastener whenremoved from the recess, cam means for imparting motion to said camsurfaces to sufiiciently increase the breadth of the recess to causesaid fastener to be gripped by said jaws, a member rotatable relative tothe frame and having a bore adapted topositively engage a fastener forrotation, and means arranged to urge the fastener out of engagement withthe jaws and into the bore of the member.

5. A holding device forfasteners discharged from a frame having apassageway for such purposes, including a plurality of pivotable armsadapted to releasably engage a fastener discharged from the passageway,springs means urging an end ofeach arm toward saidpassageway, said endof each arm having a projection adapted to engage one of the fasteners,the rearward surface of said projection being inclined rearwardly fromthe, inner end of said projection with respect to the longitudinal axis'of said passageway, the inner end surfaces of said projection beingtapered to form an edge being substantially parallel to the longitudinalaxis of said passageway, a member rotatable relative to the frame andhaving a bore adapted to positively engage a fastener for rotation, andmeans arranged to urge the fastener out of engagement with theprojections and into the bore of the member. V

6. A fastening device comprising a chute to convey fasteners and amember rotatable relativerto said chute, said member having a borehaving an entrance adjacent to the chute and adapted to receive andengage a fastener for rotation, the bore having a minimum dimensionwhich is less than the dimension of a fastener, at least one holdingmember adjacent to the entrance of the bore adapted to restrict saidchute and releasably engage the fastener, a spring urging said holdingmember toward its restricting position, and means for urging thefastener past the holding member and into said bore.

7. The fastening device claimed in claim 6 in which said holding memberis pivotally connected to the chute and includes a surface within saidchute defining a recess for receiving said fastener and a cam surfacedisposed on either side of the recess, said means beingadapted to Iengage the first cam surface and progressively displace said holdingmember as said means approaches said fastener for rotation and saidportion extending substantially to the entrance of the bore, meanscarried by the stationary member for restricting said passage adjacentthe entrance of said bore and releasably engaging the fastener, anddriving means adapted to urge the fastener in the direction of saidrotatable member out of the v restricting means and into said bore.

9. The fastener delivery and driving device claimed in claim 8 in whichsaid restricting means is adapted to hold 'said fastener againstrotation when such fastener imheld for rotation by said member.

p References on following page) References Cited in the file of thispatent UNITED STATES PATENTS Blair Mar. 23, 1943 Klopovic Dec. 10, 19465 Shafi Aug. 19, 1952 Spreng Nov. 4, 1952 Schultz Apr. 27, 1954 HolmesApr. 12, 1955 Bailey et a1. Sept. 18, 1956 10 6 Mann May 27, 1958Schmitt June 24, 1958 Luber Aug. 5, 1958 Zakrzewski et a1. Feb. 10, 1959Reynolds Mar. 24, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Feb. 14, 1924Germany June 4, 1927 Great Britain Aug. 26, 1935

